Top story: Keir Starmer’s ‘internal market’ pitch
Good morning – it’s Warren Murray helping you bend and stretch into the news day.
Labour has thrown another kind of EU trade deal into the mix, with Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer tabling an amendment to create an “internal market” arrangement with the EU. It gives shape to Jeremy Corbyn’s previously stated goals but opens a divide with remainers who want Norway-style full membership of the single market.
The EU withdrawal bill on its way back from the Lords already has an amendment supported by both Labour and rebel Tory MPs to keep Britain in the European economic area (EEA). Labour remainers argue their Tory counterparts are much more likely to support this amendment than Starmer’s. Chris Leslie, one of the Labour MPs, said: “If the frontbench are missing the opportunity to secure the EEA single market as a UK negotiating objective, there will be utter dismay and shock across the Labour movement.”
Gordon Brown has intervened, meanwhile, with a call for ministers to concentrate on tackling the main concerns of leave voters rather than getting stuck on the “technical details of what kind of Brexit”. The former PM said Britain should register migrants on arrival and stop them undercutting local wages; make sure jobs are advertised locally before abroad; and deport them if they fail to find a job.
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Trouble for TSB chief – The IT meltdown at TSB that locked up to 1.9 million customers out of their bank accounts has drawn a stinging rebuke from City regulator the FCA. It blasted chief executive Paul Pester for not being “open and transparent” enough about the upgrade gone wrong, which is still causing disruption for customers more than a month on. Pester is due to make a second appearance in front of the Commons Treasury committee today. During his first appearance, he was accused of being “extraordinarily complacent” after saying the bank’s move to the new IT system had mostly run smoothly.
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Quick catch-up – Wednesday has crept up on us again. Here is where things stand in a selection of important stories.
> There have been fresh evacuations in Guatemala after the Fuego volcano erupted again. Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for and 70 are confirmed dead.
> A third runway at Heathrow airport has been given the go-ahead, though Theresa May might need the support of Labour and the SNP to get it through parliament.
> Harvey Weinstein has formally pleaded not guilty to rape and sex crimes. The 66-year-old former movie mogul has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
> Ofcom has approved a bid by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox for 100% of Sky television, on condition Sky News is sold to someone else. Disney might buy the news channel. Comcast has also received approval from the regulator to pursue its rival bid.
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Salisbury poisoning – Investigators believe the Russian-devised novichok nerve agent was smeared on Sergei Skripal’s doorknob no more than 24 hours before he and daughter Yulia nearly died from its effects. Police think it was placed there after Yulia arrived on Saturday 3 March, having flown to the UK from Russia. She and her father left by car at 9.15am on Sunday, and were found gravely ill at 4.15pm that day. “Our enquiries are focused around the people and vehicles that were in the vicinity of the Skripals’ address and leading up to where they fell ill in the Maltings,” said deputy assistant commissioner Dean Haydon.
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Grenfell panel maker defiant – Arconic, the company that made the combustible cladding on Grenfell Tower, has denied it was anything more than one “contributing feature” in the fire’s spread. At the inquest into the blaze which resulted in 72 deaths, lawyers for the US company said the windows of the tower should have had greater fire protection. It contradicts the view of fire safety experts including Prof Luke Bisby who said the panels were “the primary cause of upward vertical fire spread, downward vertical fire spread, and lateral fire spread”. The fire is thought to have broken out from a fourth floor flat when a uPVC window melted. Flames spread through the combustible cladding system until they enveloped all four sides of the building.
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Weaponised broccoli – Science has shown its evil side today with the invention of broccoli coffee. Researchers ground up “ugly” bunches unfit for sale into a powder that they say can add nutrition to drinks, soups and baked goods. A smoothie with two tablespoons would contain the same nutrition as about one serve of broccoli. Well OK, but that still doesn’t make it right to put it in a cappuccino.
Lunchtime read: ‘Island of death from behind’
Sentosa, the venue for the Trump-Kim talks, is Singapore’s playground, boasting a golf course, exclusive hotel and movie theme park. But it has a dark past. Until 1972 Sentosa was known as Pulau Belakang Mati – roughly translated as “island of death from behind”. It was used as a Japanese prisoner of war camp after British and Australian forces surrendered in 1942, and was the site of many executions.
Its modern-day name means “peace and tranquility”. For the meeting, which Trump says will “hopefully be the start of something big”, security is paramount – and it is readily achieved here, since Sentosa is connected to the Singaporean “mainland” by a single causeway that can be easily closed off.
Sport
Raheem Sterling has admitted he understands the frenzied reaction to the tattoo of a M16 assault rifle inked on his right calf but has not been affected by the furore, with the forward intent upon making his own mark at the summer’s World Cup finals. Marco Cecchinato, a man who has lived under the cloud of match-fixing allegations for two years, emerged into the sunshine on Tuesday when he produced the best tennis of his career to put Novak Djokovic out of the French Open – and possibly out of Wimbledon. Andy Murray’s efforts to be fit for Wimbledon in a month’s time took another hit when he pulled out of a minor grass court tournament in the Netherlands.
The retired boxer Floyd Mayweather has reclaimed first place from Cristiano Ronaldo in Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes – but for the first time since 2010 there was not a single female on the list. The Tour of Britain will feature its first team time trial this year on a route designed to be unpredictable. And Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has announced his intention to resign but denied his decision was linked to the men’s national team’s ball tampering scandal.
Business
Asian markets have followed Wall Street higher ahead of the G7 meeting in Canada. The Nikkei 225, Hang Seng and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 all gained while the Shanghai Composite was flat and South Korean markets were closed for a holiday. Australia has extended a 27-year run of recession-free growth with rises in quarterly GDP and annual growth.
Sterling has been trading at $1.340 and €1.143 overnight.
The papers
“Labour seeks full access to single market” is our splash in the Guardian print edition today. “Labour bids for ‘softest’ Brexit deal is how the Times phrases it. “Minister: Oxbridge university failures are ‘staggering’” – the Telegraph quotes Sam Gyimah, Tory universities minister, who is black and says things have scarcely changed since he was at Oxford in the 1990s.
The Mail turns the mugging of Michael McIntyre and a string of other robberies into “Wild West London”. The Sun sums up the comedian’s response to the thieves as “Take my watch and go!” The Express asks: “Have we lost control of our streets?”
“4 in 5 back penny tax hike for NHS”, reports the Mirror, which presumably backs it too. The FT leads on Cambridge Analytica and says Alexander Nix “withdrew £8m” as the Facebook data scandal loomed for the company. Finally the Metro, which trundles down the runway heavily loaded with aeroplane puns today: “Brace! Brace! Brace!” is its headline as it predicts “severe turbulence for May” over the expansion of Heathrow.
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